: Men of Today Teaching the Men of Tomorrow

It’s the new word on the block. The perfect description of a LeBron dunk, a funny t-shirt, a Corvette ZR-1, and Ray Lewis’ squirrel dance. It is the thing to say when you don’t know what to say (Mary Poppins does, after all, have a large amount of swag herself). Swag is all around us, and teenagers are absolutely obsessed with it these days. But the question is, why is it such a big deal? And what is swag anyway?

According to dictionary.com, “swag” is plunder, treasure, or a swaying and lurching movement. Unfortunately, dictionaries are not very quick on the uptake, and that’s not exactly how that particular word is used today. No, here’s my official definition:

swag [swag] n. 1. The result of successfully showcasing a specific skill set deemed as unique, radical, or popular. int. 2. An exclamation expressing surprise or approval.

Swag is the new rad, and the word is used about as commonly as the letter X in Algebra 2 class. Now that we know what it means, we can begin breaking down what actually gives a person swag. If you’re really good at something, and it helps if that something is weird or brand new, that will give you swag. If you do really well on a public exam or in a contest, that will give you swag. If you regularly perform crazy, insane, death-defying acts of dumbness and get away with them, then you probably will have a good amount of swag as well. Of course, there are ways to lose swag, so I wouldn’t recommend going down that last path to find it (search “freerunning fail” in YouTube to see what I mean).

You see, “swag” is so sought-after because it makes a person look cool and become more accepted by their peers. It gives them something to be remembered by, so that their friends can say, “Johnny? Oh he’s the guy that can _____. He has swag.” That’s why teenagers are obsessed with it; it because teenagers are obsessed with being noticed and accepted by their friends. What they don’t realize, though, is that there are almost unlimited ways to “have swag,” many of them without even trying. In fact, one of the biggest ways to have swag is to be who you are as a person, without trying to impress anyone. When I’m on the basketball court making shots by myself, I have swag. When I’m playing a really cool piece on my guitar at home, I have swag. Now, maybe there isn’t anyone that notices at that particular moment, but here’s one of life’s truths; if you become skilled at something, even if nobody sees it in you right away, you will eventually be recognized for what you can do. And when that moment comes, even if it takes years, there will be a lot of people saying, “That person has swag.”

This is such a great article! I really enjoyed reading it! It definitely changed my thinking about the word ‘swag’. I agree with Sabrina, you do have a great way with words. (And, Mary Poppins DOES have a great amount of swag…)